949. The Incarnation and Virgin Birth

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University. Today we're continuing a study series based on the creed that students recite each day in chapel services, which is a summary of the doctrines of our Christian faith. Today's sermon will be preached by Dr. Brent Cook, a professor in the School of Religion. He'll be guiding us through the doctrine of the incarnation and virgin birth of Jesus Christ.

In order to redeem what he made. From a virgin tomb, the creator resurrected his humanity. Taken together, the virgin birth and the bodily resurrection of Jesus established the central Christian doctrine of the incarnation of God. And to understand the incarnation this morning, I would like us to consider two backstories that are going to converge on the story of Jesus and Nazareth. So let's turn first to Matthew chapter one. And here we will locate the first of two accounts of the virgin birth. Matthew chapter one. After a genealogy that descends from Abraham to Joseph, Matthew records a discrete but clear account of Jesus' birth. Mary and Joseph had no sexual relations, but Mary was nevertheless pregnant. Verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus was on this wise, when as his mother Mary was a spouse to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Now Joseph, who had no reason to believe that Mary is the first virgin in history to conceive, seeks to disannul their engagement.

But of course, you know the Holy Spirit will intervene. And he will explain to Joseph that even as a virgin, Mary had conceived a child by the Holy Spirit. The end of verse 20 states, For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And verse 25 reiterates that Joseph and Mary had no sexual relations before Jesus was born. Look at the text, and knew her not, till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus. Now these statements taken together indicate that Jesus was not merely virgin born, Jesus was virginly conceived. Orthodoxy has always insisted that Jesus' birth was supernatural. Supernatural character of Jesus' birth is really indispensable to the gospel. Human beings, we ourselves, cannot produce a solution to the problem of human sin, to our own fallenness.

God must intervene. But understand that Orthodoxy has equally insisted on the natural character of Jesus' birth. God was pressed into the world, breaking through a sphere of amniotic fluid, the same way you and I came into the world. In modern times, theologians often find themselves defending the deity of Jesus Christ. But ancient theologians often had to defend the humanity of Jesus Christ. The four gospels and the early church councils affirm that Jesus is both divine and human, the God-man. Now, Christianity is not the only narrative that teaches an incarnational union between God and man.

However, Matthew's gospel presents a radically different story of incarnation than the pagan alternatives, and I want to show this to you. In the time of Christ, the pagan doctrine of apotheosis gained popularity in Roman culture. Apotheosis refers to the deification of a man. The Egyptians had deified their pharaohs as early as 2500 B.C. The doctrine of apotheosis began to take root in Greek culture around the fourth century B.C.

Lysander, the Spartan admiral who was victorious in the Peloponnesian Wars, was declared to be a god. Plutarch tells us that Alexander the Great was deified. These claims of human deification were often buttressed up by birth legends.

For instance, Alexander's mother claimed that a thunderbolt came right out of heaven and struck her womb. These claims of human deification were initially resisted by the Romans. But, curiously, shortly before the birth of Christ, they began to gain popularity. Julius Caesar was deified by the Roman Senate in the year 42 B.C. Octavius Augustus, the first Roman emperor, was deified by his subjects. Octavius was the adopted son of Julius Caesar. Consequently, Octavius comes to be known as the Son of God.

Do you appreciate the irony? Jesus, the Son of God, was born under the rule of Octavius, the Son of God. In the eyes of the Romans, their emperors were gods. How would you respond to the critic who claims that the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation, the virgin birth, is just one more classical myth?

The answer is, very simply, those claims are off by 180 degrees. Matthew structures his gospel against that pagan backstory so you don't really miss what's at stake in the virgin birth. Apotheosis is going to advance men into divine status. But at the very moment when the Romans are elevating their emperors to gods, God humbles himself and becomes a man. You will not find God sitting on a throne in Rome, arrayed in purple, surrounded by an army.

You will find God in a feeding trough, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and surrounded by the stench of animals. Matthew's gospel confronts us with the grim circumstances surrounding Jesus' birth. Herod, we are told, slaughters the infants of Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph flee across national boundaries into Egypt like Syrian refugees escaping a sadistic warlord. Matthew's account is dark. It's tragic.

It's hardly the kind of scene that you would paint onto a Hallmark gift card. Matthew's genealogy actually prepares us for the ugly realities of the world that Jesus is going to enter. Like Octavius, Jesus was adopted by his human father, Joseph. But Joseph, of course, is no god. Joseph, in fact, descends from a long line of notorious sinners. Jewish culture of that time period venerated four great matriarchs, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Liam.

But curiously, Matthew's genealogy highlights four alternatives. Look at verse three and find Tamar. She's a prostitute who was impregnated by her lying, conniving father-in-law. Notice verse five. Rahab, another prostitute. In verse five again, Ruth.

She is a nobler woman, but a Gentile and a foreigner. And in verse six, Bathsheba. Matthew does not actually name her. Instead, he emphasizes King David's adultery with her by using the name of her former husband, Uriah, Uriah the Hittite.

So I have a question for you. Do you ever feel scandalized, like deeply scandalized, by the prominent role of adulterers and prostitutes in political discourse today? Would you be scandalized if Matthew traced the genealogy of Jesus through an adulterous president or the womb of a prominent prostitute? Well, that's precisely Matthew's point. In verse 21, God took the name Jesus to save his people from their sins. What Matthew's doing is giving us a defiant alternative to the pagan story of incarnation. Listen to Paulus Fabius Maximus as he commemorates the birth of Octavius Augustus. He writes, Providence has with eager generosity bestowed the most beautiful ornament in our life by bringing forth Augustus as the savior for us and for our descendants.

The birthday of the god Octavius meant for the world the beginning of the message of peace which has him as its author. And those words translated the message of peace. In Greek, that's the word gospel. Matthew's message of peace, Matthew's gospel is a god who numbers himself with transgressors.

In Paul's words, he was made sin for us. So whose gospel are you going to embrace? Well, let me ask you to turn now to the first chapter of John's gospel. John chapter 1.

And let us pick up a second back story to the incarnation. John's gospel, of course, is going to identify Jesus, the word, with God in radical equality. The word was God. And the same was in the beginning with God. But would you notice in chapter 1 and verse 14, John's emphasis on the incarnation. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

God lives in a flesh and blood human body. And notice that word dwelt. In Greek, it's the word tabernacle. And instantly that term connects us to a lengthy back story of a temple and a tabernacle before that running all the way through the Old Testament.

Now, just before we consider that story, skip ahead one chapter. John is going to tell us of a cleansing of the temple that occurs early in Jesus' ministry. And, of course, you know the Jews are enraged by Jesus' actions. And they demand of him a sign demonstrating that he really had the authority to cleanse the temple. And Jesus answers cryptically in chapter 2 and verse 19. Jesus answered and said unto them, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.

And the Jews' response? Verse 20. Then said the Jews, forty and six years was this temple and building.

And wilt thou rear it up in three days? But keep reading. But he spake of the temple of his body. Clearly, Jesus associates that temple with his own body.

So, what's the connection? Well, in our minds, let's go all the way back to the Garden of Eden. In Eden, man lives in the presence of God. And the presence of God is closely associated with, if not synonymous with, God's glory. God's presence, God's glory.

But, of course, you know that man falls in the garden. And God is going to withdraw his presence. Now, of course, God is omnipresent, but he cannot abide human sin. So, God withdraws and the whole creation is plunged into a deep, dark curse. And Genesis, did you know this, never refers to the glory of God.

It's gone. God and man cannot occupy the same space. But suddenly, when you turn to Exodus, God's glorious presence returns. God redeems his people from slavery in Egypt. He sends plagues upon their captors.

He splits apart a sea of water. He feeds them in the wilderness. And in Exodus 16, we discover for the first time the word glory associated with God's presence. There we read, and Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, in the morning you shall see, you will see the glory of the Lord. And sure enough, the next morning, they look toward the wilderness and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. And that glory filled cloud, as you know, will guide them through the wilderness. And these references to God's glory just keep on showing up. For instance, in Exodus 24, we read of the glory of the Lord dwelling on Mount Sinai.

God has returned to live among his people. However, the relationship between God and man is extraordinarily complicated. Exodus tells of people constantly sinning and God constantly threatening.

And don't come near God. God enacted a death penalty for anyone who even touched the foot of Mount Sinai. Then again, God gives them a pattern for building a sanctuary so that he can tabernacle right there in the middle of the 12 tribes.

And when you come to the end of the book of Exodus, chapter 40, you discover that that complication only continues. Here we read that a cloud covered the tent of the congregation. And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation because the cloud abode thereon. God's glory goes in and Moses goes out. God and man cannot occupy the same space. Only a single priest on a single day of the year after elaborate preparation could pass right through that veil and enter the holy place of God's presence. And that veil simultaneously excluded access but also granted access under special circumstances.

It's complicated. Now fast forward five centuries and we come to 1 Kings 7 and 1 Kings chapter 8. And here we find a record of the completion of Solomon's tabernacle. And the account is really eerily similar to Exodus chapter 40.

Let me read. And when the priest came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord so that the priest could not stand to minister because of the cloud. For the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

Sound familiar? Same glory, same cloud, same problem. God's glory goes in and the priests go out. God and man cannot occupy the same space. And listen to Solomon's response. Then Solomon said, The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. God shrouds his glory away in mysterious dark gloom behind the veil. He's isolated and distant from his fallen creation and all too soon Israel forsakes Solomon's temple for idols.

Four hundred years later the Babylonians destroy the temple. And seventy years later the returning exiles we learn restore and rebuild that temple. But curiously we never read of God's glorious presence like a cloud returning to dwell in that temple. In fact Ezekiel has a great vision of Yahweh's presence departing the temple. And Haggai tells that God's glory will return to the temple but that implies it hasn't come yet. And Malachi predicts that the Lord whom you seek will indeed come suddenly back to his temple but again that implies that he hasn't returned. And the Old Testament closes without God's glory coming back to the temple. Now with that in mind let's approach the world of Jesus.

In the first century B.C. Herod the Great undertook a massive renovation program. Josephus tells us that he employed some 10,000 workers to remake the temple. Herod began with a great big platform of 37 acres. That is double the base area of the Great Pyramid.

That's 24 football fields. That massive platform took some eight years to complete. And that platform rests on great big stones. Some of which are 10 times larger than the largest stones in the Great Pyramid.

They weigh as much as 100 bull elephants. And on top of that great big platform Herod is going to erect a temple. And that temple is three times taller than Solomon's.

It's the largest temple complex in the Roman Empire. There was a great pillared colonnade that surrounded the perimeter of that whole platform. And Josephus tells us that the thickness of each pillar was such that three men might, with their arms outstretched, fathom it round. The temple itself, Josephus says, was covered all over with plates of gold of very great weight at the first rise in the sun that reflected back a very fiery splendor.

And Josephus says the inward parts were fastened with iron, which preserved the joints immovable for all future times. And Everett Ferguson writes, The temple services were considered to unite with angelic worship, an invocation of the Lord on behalf of Israel and the world. The Jews interpreted the temple as a symbol of the cosmos. They understood the temple as holding the whole cosmos together. And that explains why the Jews took such offense at Jesus' dismissive remark, Destroy this temple and in three days I'll raise it up. For 46 years they had labored on a structure that would permanently unite God and man. And when it's complete, they believe that God's presence will return and fill that temple.

Now, fast forward three years. The nation has again converged on Jerusalem at Passover. Jesus comes with a throng of Galileans up the mountain pass from Jericho. They see that fiery temple burning on the horizon. Jesus arranges a donkey ride, pressing Zechariah's prophecy of a coming king to its fulfillment. He comes from the east the way Zechariah envisioned Yahweh would come to Jerusalem. And suddenly Jesus comes to his temple.

But it's complicated. Jesus cleanses the temple a second time. And then Jesus turns abruptly. He sweeps down the temple steps, never to ascend the temple mount again. And under the shadow of the temple, his perplexed disciples began pointing out all those wonderful buildings. And Jesus, having now ascended the Mount of Olives, responds abruptly, Truly I say to you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. Herod's temple was finally completed in 63 A.D. And seven years later, it was gone.

So when does God come to reside in his temple? Three days after predicting the temple's complete destruction, Jesus was dead. And at the moment of his death, the temple veil split apart and exposed to the world a dreadful, dark secret at the heart of Jerusalem. The Holy of Holies was empty. Josephus tells us the ark was never returned.

1 Maccabees tells us Judas Maccabees restored the temple after its pollution by Antiochus IV. He restored the lampstand, the altar of incense, the table, and the holy vessels, but no ark. When Pompey, the Roman general, invaded Jerusalem in 63 B.C., he went into the Holy of Holies and found it empty. At the moment of Christ's death, that hollow stone chamber revealed that God and man were not reunited.

How could they be? Jesus' dead body was sealed in a stone chamber outside the temple. We have no access to God.

Only an empty room. God and man cannot occupy the same space. But don't forget the words of Jesus.

Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. God's presence will come suddenly to his temple. But God never intended to dwell forever in a temple made of stone. God's presence returned suddenly to a body and raised it from the grave. The resurrection eternalized the humanity of God born in that virgin womb and all the complication disappears.

God and man can occupy the same space. The permanent humanity of God raised on Easter morning was the first fruits of the whole new creation. John Williamson, a 19th century American theologian, wrote, The Incarnation is the key that unlocks the sense of all God's revelations. It is the key that unlocks the sense of all God's works and brings to light the true meaning of the universe. The Incarnation forms thus the great central fact of the world.

Now I know it's late but would you turn very quickly to Hebrews chapter 10. When that veil was torn we have no access to God. But that veil was significant. That veil excluded access. But that veil also granted access.

But was there deeper significance? Well would you think for a moment about Jesus' humanity, his perfect humanity. You have to live exactly like Jesus to approach God. And Jesus' humanity excludes access. But Jesus' humanity was torn on a cross for your sins.

And do you have access through him? Look at verse 19. Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. What is the veil? It is the flesh. It is the body. It is the incarnation of God. How do you enter into the holy place of God's presence? Through the blood that drained from that body.

But look very closely. This is no dead sacrifice of flesh like all the others. This is a new and a living way.

And why is it living? Because God returned suddenly to his body and resurrected it from the grave. So which gospel are you going to confess in your creed? The vain gospel of apotheosis where men deify themselves. Suetonius, the Roman historian, wrote a life of Octavius. And here's how the gospel, the gospel of Octavius Augustus ends. On the day that he died, Augustus frequently inquired whether rumors of his illness were causing any popular disturbance.

He called for a mirror and had his hair combed and his lower jaw, which had fallen from weakness, propped up. Presently he summoned a group of friends and asked, have I played my part in the farce of life creditably enough? The farce of apotheosis. Or the incarnation and virgin birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Father, we give you thanks that you have chosen through Christ to unite yourself forever with us. And we give you thanks that we will be resurrected bodily to live forever in that new creation with him. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.